Three Thank Yous
by kyokoaurora
Summary: Harley overdoes it, and gets sick. Now who I wonder is going to play nursemaid? HarleyMay


Disclaimer : I don't own Pokemon, hence the lack of orgies.

HarleyxMay. Don't like, there's the back button right up there.

&

There is no Drew in this one, at all.

It was a snowy day in Icicle Town, the site of May's next Pokemon contest and Ash's next gym battle. The streets were deserted and everyone was packed into the arena to watch coordinators and their Pokemon show off their skills.

May skipped happily out of the arena with a smirk on her face. The contest was running into a second day and she had made the shortlist. Her friends and little brother congregated around her excitedly.

"You were awesome!" Ash yelled.

Brock nodded approvingly.

Max hugged her and waxed lyrical about how lucky he was to have such a cool coordinator as a sister. May grinned triumphantly, it was these moments after contests that made it so the long hours of practicing and skipping dinner so worth it.

And there was one other thing...

May looked around the room, scanning the teeming masses of coordinators and supporters, searching for a certain coordinator with personal space issues. She frowned, where in the world was Harley? He was up in five turns, according to the board, and she hadn't seen him all day. He hadn't interrupted her turn either, or turned up to tease her, it was all very strange.

And every so slightly worrying... May caught herself, and blinked. Had she just been feeling concerned for that maddening guy!? Well to hell with that, she thought firmly, she wasn't worried at all.

But as the minutes wore on, and others took their turns, and there was still no sign of him, she couldn't deny that something was up.

From the middle of the arena, Vivian called out his name. "Would Harley please take the stage!" she called for the third time. The crowd started to mutter irritably and get restless and the judges looked mildly annoyed themselves. May bit her lip.

Just as she was about to disqualify him, there came a weak call of "Wait", and a tired looking coordinator emerged from the competitors entrance. Harley staggered up and apologised for his tardiness, which was grudgingly accepted, and with a weak flourish of the wrist, released Cacturne from his Pokeball and they got started.

Five minutes later, Harley emerged with an average score, a droop in his shoulders, and the most dejected expression she had ever seen on his face.

May and the others looked after him as he passed them without comment, head down, without looking at them and made a beeline for a sofa and fell onto it.

"Wow, what's wrong with Harley?" Max wondered, having been somewhat looking forward to the ritual spar between his sister and the older coordinator. "He looks exhausted" Brock mused aloud. Just then said coordinator let out a series of ragged coughs and everyone near him moved away.

"And sick" Ash added rhetorically.

"Pika!" his partner agreed.

They watched him until he dragged himself and vanished down the corridor. May started at the door he had disappeared through until Ash declared he was starving and bundled the whole lot of them off to the dining hall.

Harley didn't appear all dinner either, and while her companions chattered peacefully about how Ash was going to try this towns gym the next day, she found her thoughts drifting from the predictable speech and to her fellow coordinator.

Despite all her protestations that she couldn't stand him, she had mellowed out towards Harley, and had started to respect him as a creative and capable coordinator, at least, she could stand to have a normal conversation with him now, provided he wasn't deliberately trying to rile her that was.

So that was when after dinner, and they all went their separate ways, instead of going to her room to rest for the contest final tomorrow, she kept going, past her door, and scanning the endless halls for his name on the doors.

Eventually she found it, four floors up from where she'd started. And there she stood, wondering why she was here exactly, and trying to ignore the nagging feeling in her tummy that told her it wasn't just curiosity that had made her come here.

She raised her hand, stopped, and then knocked three times. Long seconds passed and May was just about to give it up and accept that he wasn't in his room when a voice groaned out "Come in" and a spate of coughing followed. Reluctantly, May pushed open the door.

The room was dark, the curtains drawn tightly shut. She doubted he'd even opened them that morning. Though by the way he had looked during his turn, it looked like he was having trouble even opening his own eyes. She squinted through the dim light and saw a lump beneath the duvet. She walked towards it, her feet padding gently on the soft carpet.

She could hear breathing, now she was closer, muffled by all the bed linen, but still audible, and strained.

"Harley?" she asked gently. A moan from under the blankets was her answer. May slowly reached out and grasped them, pulling them off the person underneath.

Red rimmed emerald orbs stared up at her miserably.

"Oh Harley, you really are sick" she said softly, instinctively reaching out to press a hand to his sweaty forehead. He relaxed slightly as her cool hand touched his burning skin. She frowned, he had a high temperature, she could tell this without any thermometer.

He needed help, and it looked like she was going to be playing nursemaid for a while.

He shifted in distress when she made to leave, feebly asking where she was going. She turned and smiled at him, making his heart flutter, though that might have been the nausea as well, telling him she was going to get him some medicine and that she'd be back soon.

Flopping back onto the pillows, Harley had to smile, despite his pounding headache. At least this sickness was good for something.

True to her word, May wasn't gone five minutes when she hurried back into the room, laden down with bottles, compresses and other things. Setting them down, she stuffed a thermometer in his mouth before he could say anything.

"Mmmmf!" he grunted in protest. "Just give it a few seconds" she told him. So he did. When the time was up she yanked it out of his mouth and squinted at the tiny numbers, and then her eyes widened.

"Harley! You have a temperature of 102!" she cried. Harley closed his eyes tiredly. He could well believe it, with how bad he felt right now, with the exception of the present company of course.

"Relax for a minute okay?" she told him, and she ran into the bathroom to wet a flannel. Next thing Harley knew May was kneeling on the side of the bed, dabbing his forehead with the wonderfully cool cloth.

"That's nice" he muttered, eyes closed. May smiled slightly. "I'm glad" she said. "But Harley, I have to ask, how did you get this sick? Because in all the times I've seen you, you've never been anything less than utterly hyperactive and OTT" she said frankly.

Harley laughed, which then turned into a cough, and another one...May grabbed the glass of water she had brought from the bedside locker and pressed it to his dry lips. He gulped it down gratefully and she set the empty glass down again.

Once he had gotten over his fit, he started to speak. "It's my own fault" he wheezed, making May's eyebrows shoot up in confusion. "The last week we've been training really hard, me and Cacturne and Octillery. We were practising a new routine and I kept driving them at it until we had it nearly perfect. But basically, not enough sleep for anyone, falling asleep in the cold and hoping it would go away made it this bad" he admitted.

He glanced to where his Pokémon lay. "I brought them to Nurse Joy earlier and they're fine, they didn't really get sick like I did".

May tsked playfully. "Why Harley, I thought you were old enough to take care of yourself" she giggled. A ghost of a smile appeared on his gaunt face and he retaliated. "There's no need to be cute, you already are" he said amusedly. May blushed slightly, cursing Harley for being a charmer even when he was dying of a cold.

"But you're right" he said out of the blue. "It was foolish, and now I'm paying for it. Our performance was terrible" he groaned, still decidedly down in the dumps about their lacklustre act that afternoon.

May absently stroked some lilac hairs away from his eyes

"Not that I don't appreciate it, doll, but why are you here?" he whispered, wincing at the sandpaper like feeling in his throat as he spoke. "I was...concerned, when I saw you today, and..." she trailed off uncomfortably. Harley grinned widely, despite it all.

"So you couldn't keep away from my charming self" he teased. May flushed an angry red, and stayed silent. He laughed quietly. "It doesn't matter anyway, I'm glad you're here...May" he said kindly.

The girl didn't know what to say to such sweet words from the guy who normally drove her up the wall and down again whenever she laid eyes on him. She cast her eyes downwards and wrung her small hands while unconsciously biting her pinks lips again, and drawing the purple haired coordinators eyes to them like a bee to honey.

It hadn't been the first time, that he'd thought she was pretty. No, far from it, it had nearly been the first thought that jumped into his head, directly preceding just how easy and fun it was to mess with her. Oh yes. He wasn't totally, or even remotely insincere when she called her adorable or cute, or any other number of names that served to infuriate her. He meant them, every word.

And it was to see these delicious results that he zeroed in on her. He was a reaction junkie when it came to her. He delighted in seeing what she would do when he pushed this button, or that one...not in a literal sense of course, and how that pretty mouth would twist into a snarl of displeasure and those blue blue eyes would blaze with spirit and defiance. He loved it, truly.

Although his arms felt leaden, he reached out and took one of her hands, and she clenched it, surprised. "Thank you for taking care of me" he said softly, before his eyelids began to droop. Within seconds he was sleeping soundly and his now slack hand started to slip out of her grasp before she clasped it once more reflexively.

She looked blankly at his serene sleeping face, long lilac lashes shielding dark circled eyes, a rugged tinge on pasty skin, soft purple curls splayed across the pillow. Like this, sick and sleeping...the demon managed to look quite angelic, she thought ironically.

Standing quietly, she gathered up the medical paraphernalia she had gone to fetch and put them into a bag. She refilled the glass with fresh water and fussily pulled the duvet further over him. Smiling slightly, she left the room.

Harley woke with a start and gazed about wildly in the darkened room. He coughed and flailed around for that glass of water...it felt as if he'd swallowed a jar of Cacturne's needles. Suddenly his fingers found it and with a strange lack of effort, he raised to his lips and gulped it down, relieved. He froze when it was pulled out of his grip. The light flashed on just then, illuminating the person taking the glass from him.

"May" he rasped, willing his thundering heart to stop its infernal cancan rendition already. "Thats my n-n-naaaaame..." she yawned mid sentence, and covered her mouth daintily. His gaze travelled over her shoulder to find rumpled sheets and pillows in a heap. It was suddenly very obvious that she had snuck back in sometime during the night in case he needed something. Her unexpected sweetness brought a lump to his throat that had nothing to do with the darned inflammation.

Mystery solved, his gaze switched to the girl herself. Her hair was down, pooling in the curve of her neck, her eyes still sleepy and unguarded and clad in a plain cotton nightdress that really shouldn't have given him ideas but still did. All in all, so cute he wanted to scream it and hug her silly. But he wasn't about to ruin a good thing when it was so obligingly looked after him, so he refrained.

"I'm gonna get you some more medicine" she mumbled, scrambling up to retrieve her bag of tricks. He obediently took the proffered spoon, being forcefully reminded of Mary Poppins and that spoonful of sugar song was now firmly wedged in his brain. Oh brilliant. But on the plus side, MAY! IN A NIGHTDRESS!

"You feel better now?" she asked. "A little" he replied. She yawned again "Thats gooood" she got out. "Have you been here since I fell asleep?" he asked softly. She shook her head. "I left for about ten minutes to get these and then came back" she told him.

"Oh" he said dumbly. "I wanted to be here in case you needed something" she said plainly, unaware of just what effect this had on him. "Thank you" he muttered. She chuckled. "Two thanks in one day, is this going to become a habit?" she smirked. "Maybe" he teased lightly back.

They stayed like that in companionable silence until May spotted the time on the clock overhead and sighed. "We should sleep" she groaned "you need rest and I at least, have a contest tomorrow at noon" she said. Harley sighed too, disappointed.

May lay back down on her makeshift bed and winced. He caught it and asked her what was wrong. "Well, this floor isn't the most comfortable thing to lie on" she admitted "and I really couldn't drag my mattress here".

Right, that was it. She was not going to stay and look after him and suffer a night on that hard cold floor. Nosiree, not gonna happen.

"May" he rasped "there's a mattress right here" he offered, patting the empty space beside him. She blushed furiously and he hastened to assure her of his intentions.

"Nothing funny, I promise. There's plenty of room, and you're going the mother of all pains in the neck in the morning if you sleep on that" he reasoned. Although still blushing (quite attractively in his book) she gave a small nod.

"No funny business" she said warningly, walking around to the empty side, where he obligingly pulled the covers back for her. She got in tentatively and lay on her straight as a board staring at the ceiling. He sighed inwardly. This would do at all.

Without warning he snaked an arm around her waist, turned her around and pulled her flush against him. May gave a shriek and would have rolled out of the bed if not for his surprisingly strong grip.

"Wha-what are you doing?" she squeaked. "It's cold" he mumbled, with his face in her hair. _'Mmm, lemon' _he deduced happily.

May opened her mouth and closed it again like a Magikarp. How was she supposed to respond to that? She looked at her makeshift bed and grimaced. She really didn't want to go back to it, and even with the heater on, the room was still pretty frigid, especially with her unwise choice in nightwear.

And besides, did she really want to?

Harley was so warm and his arms felt so good cuddling her like this...

She gave in and relaxed against him, putting her own arms around his lean form, much to his delight.

"Goodnight Harley" she whispered exasperatedly.

"Goodnight May" he crooned back.

&

Harley awoke with his throat stabbing at him again and he snatched the water glass up. Having relieved the pain some, Harley turned his attention to the beautiful dream wrapped around him.

He grinned, he should get sick more often, quite enjoying having the fiery young coordinator in his bed and in his arms. It seems dreams came true after all...

However, it would also seem they didn't last forever, he thought wistfully as the angel began to stir. After a few moments, blue eyes opened and gazed about disoriented, until the events of the previous night came back to her.

"Morning" she muttered, blushing slightly. He replied in kind before his damned cough woke up and May rubbed his back until the fit passed. At least the headache was mostly gone.

"What time is it?" he asked when he had recovered sufficiently enough to speak. May squinted up at the clock. "Nearly nine" she replied. "Okay" he said.

"So you're going for the contest soon?" he queried sadly. She nodded, not altogether thrilled that the comfortable moment was coming to an end. Neither of them wanted it to.

"Hey May" he said quietly. She braced her hands against his chest and looked at him cutely. "Yeah?" she asked. "I know what you said before, but why did you really do all this for me?" he asked breathily.

After some deliberation, May spoke. "Well, I guess, despite the fact that you're the most annoying rival I've ever had and will ever have...you're also a friend, a good friend" she said truthfully, having no malice towards him at all now. In fact...

Harley smiled. Finally, she had accepted him as a friend. That should be enough, he really shouldn't be this greedy, but when would he ever have another chance like this. Tomorrow would be another day, and they would be back to their evasive banter once again.

So he jumped off the metaphorical cliff, and hoped she'd catch him on the way down.

"Is that all you think of me as?" he whispered. May blinked. "Ah, Harley..." and then she was stunned silent as he craned down and laid a feathery kiss on her forehead.

"Harley..." she whispered, astounded. He said nothing, there was nothing left to say.

May knew she had a choice to make here, did she reject him, or did she take a chance, and let go of her old crush?

She gazed up at the face of the man looking at her pleadingly. His sincerity was obvious. And she was afraid of getting hurt.

But then, if she had been afraid of getting hurt and of failure, would she have started this amazing journey in the first place? Wouldn't she have stayed safe at home under her gym leader fathers watchful eye and settled for watching contests on television and wishing she had the courage to go out and achieve her own dreams?

Of course. But she hadn't. And she now had her answer.

Harley was almost wishing he hadn't said anything, taking her prolonged silence as a rejection of his heartfelt feelings. And then...

May kissed him, gently, on his closed lips and pulled away before he could register what had happened. And when it did, his face broke into the biggest smile. May smiled too, glad she had given him a chance.

"Thank you" he murmured again, leaning his forehead against hers contentedly. "Third time's the charm" she giggled. She smiled and embraced him tightly. Time passed quietly like that until May groaned and started to move away.

She chuckled at the worried look on her new boyfriends face and kissed him on the nose laughingly telling him she needed to go prepare for the contest finals. His expression softened and he hugged her once more before telling her to "go win that contest sweetie" making her go positively tomato in the face, and making him laugh more, unfortunately making him start coughing again as well.

She left with the promise to come back as soon as she had won and let her friends congratulate her, and the wish that he would rest until then. He may have been better than he was yesterday, but he certainly wasn't back to full health by a long shot. But he soon would be, because she wouldn't leave his side for a minute longer than she had to.

Though when she started coughing lightly and her throat got sore, she mused that it might be him that was taking care of her instead.

And she was sure that he wouldn't mind at all.

&

Well there it was, hope it wasnt too boring, I'm rather out of practice with writing in general and Pokemon itself.

A few notes in case it wasn't clear enough. The weather is freezing, hence his cold and how easy he persuaded her to get into the bed.

The contest was two days long.

When he says she's cute, I meant cute in the sense that she's being a smartass (I don't know if its an Irish thing or not lol)

Third times the charm meant the third thank you did it.

I probably have several details wrong with the actual sickness and treatment and I know he doesn't have many symptoms but I couldn't make him too bad if I wanted him to be coherent to make a confession ^^

I think thats it.

Please review, I appreciate it!


End file.
